Nuclear forceThe nuclear force (or nucleon–nucleon interaction, residual strong force, or, historically, strong nuclear force) is a force that acts between the protons and neutrons of atoms. Neutrons and protons, both nucleons, are affected by the nuclear force almost identically. Since protons have charge +1 e, they experience an electric force that tends to push them apart, but at short range the attractive nuclear force is strong enough to overcome the electromagnetic force. The nuclear force binds nucleons into atomic nuclei.
MesonIn particle physics, a meson (ˈmiːzɒn,_ˈmɛzɒn) is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles, they have a meaningful physical size, a diameter of roughly one femtometre (10^−15 m), which is about 0.6 times the size of a proton or neutron. All mesons are unstable, with the longest-lived lasting for only a few tenths of a nanosecond.
NucleonIn physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number (nucleon number). Until the 1960s, nucleons were thought to be elementary particles, not made up of smaller parts. Now they are known to be composite particles, made of three quarks bound together by the strong interaction. The interaction between two or more nucleons is called internucleon interaction or nuclear force, which is also ultimately caused by the strong interaction.
Rho mesonIn particle physics, a rho meson is a short-lived hadronic particle that is an isospin triplet whose three states are denoted as _Rho+, _Rho0 and _Rho-. Along with pions and omega mesons, the rho meson carries the nuclear force within the atomic nucleus. After the pions and kaons, the rho mesons are the lightest strongly interacting particle, with a mass of 775.45MeV for all three states. The rho mesons have a very short lifetime and their decay width is about 145MeV with the peculiar feature that the decay widths are not described by a Breit–Wigner form.
Vector mesonIn high energy physics, a vector meson is a meson with total spin 1 and odd parity (usually noted as JP = 1−). Vector mesons have been seen in experiments since the 1960s, and are well known for their spectroscopic pattern of masses. The vector mesons contrast with the pseudovector mesons, which also have a total spin 1 but instead have even parity. The vector and pseudovector mesons are also dissimilar in that the spectroscopy of vector mesons tends to show nearly pure states of constituent quark flavors, whereas pseudovector mesons and scalar mesons tend to be expressed as composites of mixed states.
Omega mesonThe omega meson (_Omega meson) is a flavourless meson formed from a superposition of an up quark–antiquark and a down quark–antiquark pair. It is part of the vector meson nonet and mediates the nuclear force along with pions and rho mesons. The most common decay mode for the ω meson is _Pion+_Pion0_Pion- at 89.2±0.7%, followed by _Pion0_Gamma at 8.34±0.26%. The quark composition of the _Omega meson meson can be thought of as a mix between _up quark_up antiquark, _down quark_down antiquark and _strange quark_strange antiquark states, but it is very nearly a pure symmetric _up quark_up antiquark-_down quark_down antiquark state.
J/psi mesonThe _J/psi (J/psi) meson ˈdʒeɪ_ˈsaɪ_ˈmiːzɒn is a subatomic particle, a flavor-neutral meson consisting of a charm quark and a charm antiquark. Mesons formed by a bound state of a charm quark and a charm anti-quark are generally known as "charmonium" or psions. The _J/Psi is the most common form of charmonium, due to its spin of 1 and its low rest mass. The _J/Psi has a rest mass of 3.0969GeV/c2, just above that of the _charmed eta (2.9836GeV/c2), and a mean lifetime of 7.2e-21s.
MuonA muon (ˈmjuːɒn ; from the Greek letter mu (μ) used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 e and a spin of , but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not thought to be composed of any simpler particles; that is, it is a fundamental particle. The muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of 2.2μs, much longer than many other subatomic particles.
Scalar mesonIn high energy physics, a scalar meson is a meson with total spin 0 and even parity (usually noted as JP=0+). Compare to pseudoscalar meson. The first known scalar mesons have been observed since the late 1950s, with observations of numerous light states and heavier states proliferating since the 1980s. Scalar mesons are most often observed in proton-antiproton annihilation, radiative decays of vector mesons, and meson-meson scattering.
ProtonA proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol _Proton, H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 e (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton-to-electron mass ratio). Protons and neutrons, each with masses of approximately one atomic mass unit, are jointly referred to as "nucleons" (particles present in atomic nuclei). One or more protons are present in the nucleus of every atom.
